• A delegation of the Competition Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina made a visit to Bulgaria
• Czech Agency for Export Development opened an office in Bulgaria
• Deputy Minister Bozadzhiev presented the Bulgarian economy before the Bulgarian and the Korean business

60th International Technical Fair in Plovdiv

On September 27, in Plovdiv the 60th representative Bulgarian forum of investment goods and technologies was opened, being a guarantee of prestige and market success for decades. In this year’s edition thousands of companies followed an already established tradition with their regular attendance. Their number at the Autumn Technical Fair was 2 859, 240 more than in 2003, of which 1182 Bulgarian and 1677 foreign companies. This considerable rise in participation is an objective manifestation of the stabilization of Bulgarian industry and the growing interest of foreign companies towards Bulgaria.

A total of 43 countries participated in the 60th International Technical Fair in Plovdiv: Australia, Austria, Belorussia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Iran, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Cyprus, China, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, the USA, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey, the Ukraine, Finland, France, Holland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland, the Republic of South Africa and Japan.

The Czech Republic was a partner to the autumn edition of the Technical Fair. In an exposition of impressive scale, 83 Czech companies presented their country\\\'s economy and the Czech-Bulgarian Trade and Investment Business Forum was one of the top events. The program included a Day of the Czech Republic, business meetings, shows, etc. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Czech Republic, through the company Rapid of Prague, organized the official Czech participation. The foreign companies were the most numerous at the Plovdiv Fair - 429 from Germany, 339 from Italy, 120 from Czech Republic, 83 from USA, 74 from Turkey, 65 from Austria, 65 from France, 45 from Poland, 42 from Spain. Germany, Italy, Turkey, Czech Republic, Serbia and Montenegro, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, France, Macedonia and Poland had the largest number of expositions.

The rich program of events also contributed to the high efficiency of the fair. A number of events were held daily in the congress centre: conferences, meetings of Bulgarian and foreign businessmen, seminars, round tables, competitions, business forums, discussions, press conferences, organized by the ministries, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bulgarian Industrial Chamber, branch organizations, scientific institutes, unions, associations, companies and others.

The organization of specialized exhibitions, which were twice as many as last year, complied with the newest trends in the fair industry and provided the best conditions for successful work of participants and visitors. This autumn for the first time within the International Technical Fair, ten international specialized exhibitions were held: “Infotech” – for information and technologies (206 companies from 24 countries), “Eltech” – for electronics and electric equipment (370 companies from 32 countries), “Autotech” – for transport and car services (415 companies from 25 countries), “Machine building” (841 companies from 30 countries), “Stroitech-the city” – for construction and architecture (464 companies from 32 countries), “Chemistry” – for the chemical industry (141 companies from 21 countries), “Eneco” – for the energy sector and ecology (235 companies from 22 countries), Plovdiv Automobile Show – 51 companies from 13 countries, Safety Planet 21 Century – for fire and emergency security (36 companies from 10 countries), and other branches (100 companies from 10 countries).

With its prompt response to the topical demands and the dynamics of current business, Plovdiv Fair is establishing itself as a reliable bridge for economic exchange between the East and the West, whose significance will continue to grow.

Stoyan Raichevsky